Former Jessup corrections officer charged in Maryland shooting spree

Anne Arundel police Lt. T.J. Smith talks about arrest of Hong Young on Tuesday night on Arundel Mills Circle. Charges pending against Young include attempted first-degree murder, first and second degree assault and gun related offenses.

Anne Arundel police Lt. T.J. Smith talks about arrest of Hong Young on Tuesday night on Arundel Mills Circle. Charges pending against Young include attempted first-degree murder, first and second degree assault and gun related offenses.

Ben Weathers, bweathers@capgaznews.com

A former Maryland Department of Corrections Officer has been charged in connection with a shooting spree over the past week in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. corridor.

Hong Young, 35, of Beltsville has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and related gun charges, according to online court records. Young was being held without bail at Jennifer Road Detention Center in Parole Thursday morning, a jail representative said.

Although two people were injured in the string of incidents, county Police Chief Timothy Altomare noted that more tragic consequences had been averted, likening it to the D.C. Sniper case that gripped the region with fear in 2002.

"Everybody that has been victimized by this person is alive and well," Altomare said.

Police have linked Young to shootings near Arundel Mills mall, Laurel, Columbia and the Inter County Connector in Prince George's County. After the shooting on the ICC Tuesday afternoon, Anne Arundel police deployed additional officers throughout the county.

Two of those policemen, Officer Mason Ellis, a three-year veteran of the force, and Cpl. Matthew Hall, a seven-year veteran, spotted Young's 1999 Lincoln Town Car around 10:27 p.m. on Arundel Mills Circle where they conducted traffic stop.

The area is near where a man was shot at on Arundel Mills Boulevard last week.

Officers spotted shell casings along with a .380 caliber Bersa handgun inside the town car, police said. Prince George's police later connected the weapon, which was legally registered to Young, to four of the five shootings.

Although police recovered no shell casings from a shooting early Monday morning at the Walmart on Russet Green East in Laurel, they were able to tie Young's vehicle to the scene through surveillance video, Smith said.

Young was taken into custody without incident. Prior to being formally charged he was taken to a local hospital where he was held under police guard, Smith said.

He is said to be cooperating with police.

As of Wednesday afternoon, police had no motive in the shooting.

Stephen Moyer, secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said Young was employed as a corrections officers at the medium security facility in Jessup from Jan. 2012 to May 2014, when he resigned.

Moyer said that a review of Young's tenure with the department revealed no significant incidents.

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Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the gun allegedly found in Young's vehicle. It is a .380 caliber Bersa Handgun.